Strum a Melody for Me
by kitfallen
Summary: Zexion Ishida has a lot of problems... he lost his hearing at the age of ten, changed highschools when he was sixteen, and became college roommates with Demyx when he was eighteen.. Wait... why is that last one a problem? .AU Zemyx. .deaf!Zexion.
1. Hello There

**Strum a Melody for Me**

* * *

**Summary**: _Zexion Ishida has a lot of problems. First of all, he's got a paper due tomorrow… he lost his hearing at the age of ten, changed highschools when he was sixteen, and became roommates with Demyx when he was eighteen and in college. Wait… why is that last one a problem?_ An AU Zemyx Fanfic from Zexion's point of view.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Zexion, Demyx or anyone else… as much as I wish I did sometimes… Maybe I could try stealing them all one day… But I think the other fangirls would kill me… Heh.

**Pairings:** Zexion/Demyx, Axel/Roxas, Larxene/Marluxia, and other to come (it's a surprise!)

* * *

**Chapter 1** "Hello There"

"_Hello there, angel from my nightmare, the shadow in the background of the morgue, the unsuspecting victim of darkness in the valley, we can live like Jack and Sally if we want._"

–I Miss You by Blink182

Six days in and I still haven't finished my essay. Maybe a paper on one's weaknesses wasn't the best idea.

Any idea I had only kept me coming back to one weakness that I could never simply write on such blank stiff paper. How does one write of love on such an unrelenting, harsh, deathly white surface, such as paper?

Maybe I should start somewhere else, to explain. I suppose the base of my problems began when I was only ten years old.

A bad car accident had marred half of my face and lost me my hearing forever.

I would be lying if I said I didn't remember it. It's kind of hard to forget the sound of grinding metal and the intense smell from fumes of mixing car fluids. How warm one side of my head was, and my foggy mind seemed to only register bits and pieces of sounds, as if someone was messing with a radio station every other moment.

Eventually the sounds stopped all together and melded into a soft static that I now ignore most of the time. The static never changes, but my ears now register no other sound, as if the world is on a permanent mute.

So, as the doctors simply and uncaringly told me: I'm deaf. They didn't explain more then that when informing me by a written note. My mother told me later that they had been more concerned with saving my sight at the time, and didn't mean to be so blunt. However, now that I know that both my eyes work perfectly fine (even if one is oddly colored) it seems even crueler to so rudely announce in such a blunt manor, that I will never hear another person's voice again. I'll never listen to the gentle beats of music, or the laughter of my little sister. I'll never be able to hear the soft emotion in my loved one's rich voice…

Maybe that's why I hated to tell anyone about my disability. Even my best friend, in all his muscled glory, had to jump through hoops just to find out that I had to go to lip-reading classes now. Lex forced me to let him come with me to my next class, and learned right along side me. He even learned sign language with me, regardless of my ability to speak normally. I had been old enough to remember how to correctly control my voice, even though I can't hear it.

But I'm going off on a tangent now. It was only when I changed highschools that an idea struck me. Lexaeus hated it, right from the start, but I never did do a good job of listening to him, even when he's right.

I had discovered that the fad of wearing headphones all the time could be used to my advantage. People with headphones, usually blasting music through their eardrums, were always treated as if they couldn't hear a thing that was going on unless it was in their sight. Being deaf, I found this to be useful when I wandered around in public, because people wouldn't get mad at me when I couldn't hear them or didn't notice them talking behind me.

When Lex and I changed highschools, I began to wear them all the time, never explaining to anyone who didn't need to know that I was actually deaf and couldn't hear the music screaming from my headphones. My mother bought me a laptop so I could record my class notes as text and read them instead of trying vainly to see the teacher's lips all the time.

It didn't seem like a big deal to me at the time. I didn't like to tell people things that would make them treat me differently, and other people didn't seem to care anyway. Only Lex had a problem. He had this thing called "honor" and (regardless that being a football jock made it all the more amusing that he had such a view on life) he hated dishonesty.

All through highschool he bothered me to give up on my act, but by now it was a game to me and I didn't like to lose games.

I'll go ahead and skip forward to the day I met the rest of my problem.

First day of college: moving-in day. Lex helped me carry my bags and boxes up to my dorm (read: he carried most of them and I carried almost nothing). Although he was going to a different college that was best for English majors and I was going to one that was good for Biology majors, I had helped him move into his dorm earlier and now he was returning the favor. Plus, it would be the last time we would see each other for a long while.

Adjusting my headphones, I pointed out the places for each box and bag to be set. I would unpack later. Right now I just needed everything in the room.

"Is that the last box?" I said aloud and clearly. I'm told my voice grew very proper and direct when I lost my hearing, making me sound highly intelligent. I suppose that is just because I have only memories of how things sound, and I always have to think through my words entirely too much before I can say them.

Lex caught my eye, like he always did before he spoke, "I think so. Do you need help setting up your books?" His eyes traveled over to my headphones and scowled a motion that pulled his skin tight against his face. "Can't you take those off, Zexion? There isn't anyone around to fool."

I gave my cursory smile and tugged one side down. "Happy?" I knew this would only annoy him, but I smirked at the thought.

He blew a huff from his square jaw, "No, but I suppose I should know better by now." He turned away for a moment. I frowned. I hated when people turned their faces away. It was like the world shut down on me and left me without a paddle. I pulled the headphones back into place with a scowl, pulling the i-kod out of my pocket to see what song was playing.

I knew all the songs I had on my i-kod. Well, I knew the words anyway, and I had seen the music videos for them. I had never heard a good amount of them though. Most songs that I had listened to before I had gone deaf only brought up those sickly twisted memories of good times that I could never have again.

A large hand draped itself across my shoulder. Alarm shot through my veins and I whipped around to face Lex, my face falling into a frown.

Anyone else would have gotten yelled at. My soft-spoken, jock of a friend, though, he was the only one who could get away with laying a hand on me. He always knew to stay away from my skin and always made sure the contact never lasted longer then it needed to.

"We're not going to see each other for a long time, Zex." He stated bluntly, making sure he had my attention.

"You make it sound like we'll never call each other." I spoke jokingly in what I knew to be a soft tone.

He raised a brow, "And what good would calling you be?"

I frowned and shook my head, "Fine, IM each other, happy? I suppose Saturday movie night is off too?" All through highschool we had gone to see old Chinese flicks, which were always translated across the bottom, so I wouldn't miss anything. Lexaeus had enjoyed those sorts of movies even before I became deaf, so that was one thing that had never changed throughout my childhood… I knew what his answer would be, though. I knew it was just another thing to be sacrificed to growing up.

"I suppose so, unless we can manage to watch movies together from two states away." His face seemed blank of emotion, only his eyes showing a gentle softness that I had come to know as his way of showing he was worried for me.

This made me mad. I disliked being treated like a child and I hated even more being treated like a poor deaf kid. "You know, I _can_ take care of myself."

He ran a large hand through his crazy brown hair, "I know, but-"

"But what?!" I knew I was close to yelling and Lexaeus shot me a look.

"Lower your voice." He said stiffly and I snapped my mouth closed on my retort. Lex only ever verbally corrected me on my voice when he was annoyed with me. The giant man sighed, running a hand through his hair again in a nervous habit of his, "We shouldn't be fighting, but I worry for you. I know that you're not going to tell anyone about your disability, and I know that you're going to continue lying to as many people as possible… but this time, you're not going to have me to help you with anything… And I worry. Is it so impossible for you to accept that I'd do this even if you _weren't_ deaf?"

I bowed my head, putting my cool palm against my forehead to think. He knew this was a gesture I didn't use with anyone else, because it left me so vulnerable without my sense of sight or touch. "I apologize for my actions. I guess I'm just stressed out as well. I should know that you've always been the mother hen-type." I knew he would smile at that, even without looking, "It's not like we won't keep in contact and I'll be sure to tell you how things go, even though I know you hate my games." I opened my eyes and looked up at him, fixing him with a teasingly sharp gaze, "But you'd better tell me how your days go too! It's not only you that worries."

Lex gave me one of his rare soft smiles and I returned it. He caught my eye again and spoke, "I should get going. My classes start tomorrow and I need to finish reading a novel for my Philosophy class."

I gave him a swift nod, "You'll probably finish it halfway through the plane ride, like usual, and then go off reading your Japanese comics." I snorted in a half amused way.

"Manga," he corrected me absent mindedly and rubbed the back of his head. "Of course, I will." he said simply and we walked down to the rental car in silence, only exchanging wishes for luck as he started the car and drove off. We weren't much for idle chatter, though, so this didn't seem abnormal to me.

When I strode back into my dorm, I noticed something new. My roommate had apparently started to unpack his stuff on his side of the room. The room was small, one bunk bed, which I had claimed the bottom of, two desks, one dresser and two closets. I had stuck some stuff into one closet and piled some things on the desk that fit under the top bunk with my bed, so that the foot of the bed stuck out at an odd angle. The fact my desk was close to my bed pleased me in some odd way though.

My dorm mate had piled a few things on the top bunk, and had a guitar case on top of his desk. I purposefully ignored the guitar. Although I played the part of a music-junkie, I hated had grown to hate all melodies. It was the one form of art that I would never be able to understand ever again.

Instead of dwelling on this, I decided to unpack some of my clothes and hang them in the closet. So, although ironic, I was in the closet when my roommate finally arrived.

The blonde looked like a mullet and a Mohawk had attempted to mate on top of his head. His body was thin, but wired like a swimmer's with the hidden muscle only showing as he struggled with a load of rather heavy-looking boxes. I took this all in as he wobbled into the room and plopped the boxes in a messy pile on the cement floor. It was then that he noticed me, and maybe if he hadn't flashed me that blindingly _lovely_ smile in that first moment, just maybe I wouldn't be in the situation I am now.

"Hi! I'm Demyx! You must be my new roomie!"

I had already lost the game before it had even started.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I didn't mean for this to be a fanfic at first. I got the idea while I wandered my college's campus with my own headphones blaring loudly... people do just react to you differently. When I started to plan a story out in my head... Zexion just fit too well, and with Zexion comes Demyx... hehe ;3

I have this story up on my dA account (username: kit55), which will probably be updated quicker then it will be here... but don't let that stop you from reviewing! I love comments and critiques!


	2. I Can’t Seem to Understand

**Strum a Melody for Me**

* * *

**Summary**: _Zexion Ishida has a lot of problems. First of all, he's got a paper due tomorrow… he lost his hearing at the age of ten, changed highschools when he was sixteen, and became roommates with Demyx when he was eighteen and in college. Wait… why is that last one a problem?_ An AU Zemyx Fanfic from Zexion's point of view. 

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Kingdom Hearts, Sora would have remained a Heartless so Roxas and Axel could live together FOREVER and have lovely little arsebabies...

**Pairings:** Zexion/Demyx, Axel/Roxas, Larxene/Marluxia, and other to come (it's a surprise!)

* * *

**Chapter 2** "I Can't Seem to Understand" 

"_I can't seem to understand it, how you turned out to be so cold._ _You tried but were caught red handed. Are you happy with your role?_"

– False Pretense by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

A hand. Graceful and elegant, but also with nervously bitten nails and thickly callused finger tips. With skin so softly pale, yet with just the proper amount of color.

It was strangely beautiful.

It was in my way.

I attempted to twist my face into a scowl, but it softened into a nervous chewing on my bottom lip. I had been writing my essay for my seminar class, but now the alluring hand was distracting me. Why it bothered me, I didn't pretend to know.

Demyx was sound asleep, napping in the middle of the day. His dirty blonde hair was flowing out in every direction and his limbs were obviously flung every which way, which brought me back to the distracting hand. It hung over the side of the top bunk, draped through my sight as I sat as my neatly organized desk under his bed.

My eye twitched, this was just **not working**. I had purposefully ignored the IMs from Lex that first day as I sat, attempting to pay no heed to the hand and write my paper. Finally I sighed, leaning back in my chair and twirling my mechanical pencil in my hand. _I'm never going to finish this, am I?_ I pondered, and so began another of the problems I even now suffer from… distractions from important homework. I raised my brow as a curious thought came to mind and I poked at the hand with the eraser of my pencil.

Demyx's hand twitched, but remained where it was. I glanced at his face, which had turned so I could see his lips… which were moving. _He talks in his sleep?_ I blinked and poked the hand again.

"Ah… Don't… Not the chameleon… Bad Saïxpuppy…" He muttered, eye lids flickering. _What an odd person._ I pondered, and then another curious thought crossed my mind… a thought an old friend of mine, Larxene, would have been proud of. I turned the pencil around and prodded his hand with the sharp end. "YOW!" He jumped awake.

Somehow I must have been closer then I thought, because when he startled awake, he managed to crack his forehead against mine. I cringed, jerking backwards nearly hard enough to fall and gripping my head where my head has hit his.

A moment later I felt a hand on my head, that same graceful goose-like hand that had distracted me so. I felt my skin prickle at his pulse on my forehead. Each individual finger's rough surface and pulsing veins- I wanted nothing more then to shriek and huddle in some corner at the activation of my phobia. Lex had called it "aphenphosmphobia"… but I could rarely pronounce all those syllables correctly in order, so I just called it my touch-phobia. What I guess started it was that once my hearing went, my other senses enhanced… including my sense of touch, making the act of touching other people, even by accident, extremely unnerving. You'd be disgusted too if you could _feel_ the blood rushing through another person's veins just by accidentally putting your hand on their bare arm.

However, I switched my reaction from fear and disgust to anger. Anger was easier, now I wanted nothing but to snap at him but my nausea made me attempt to keep my eyes shut to keep the world from spinning quite so badly… but he must be saying something… I cracked open an eye, ready to growl at him to fluck off and get his goosey hands off my head.

Instead I could only widen my eyes. _Damn... he's so.. close. Too close._ I felt a burning run from my nose to the tips of my ears. I was already too close to panic as my fear and disgust came rushing back. Anger hadn't been enough to keep it all away. Fear made me momentarily freeze in place.

"-m sorry! I didn't mean to! Are you hurt? Should I get the nurse?" I read from his lips as he blurted out apologizes and seemed to be slightly panicking. Something in his expression made me forget my disgust and watch the concern and worry run across his soft facial features.

I only then remembered why I had opened my eyes, and jerked away from the elegantly placed hand on my forehead.

"I'm fine." I snapped, back stepping before he could move that close again. I could still feel his pulse on my scalp, his gentle but callused fingertips pulsing to a beat that ran though his swollen veins. Learning anatomy in biology was nothing compared with being to feel it. I doubted I would ever get used to such a thing. It was… all too creepy.

Demyx's face had fallen and he moved backwards slightly, gripping his hands behind his back awkwardly. Then he blinked, looking up at me, and I suddenly broke out in a sweat. "Wha-What were you doing… before?" He didn't look angry, or annoyed… just… confused. _How… innocent._ I then wondered why such a thought would come to mind.

Of course I lied. Why would anyone in their right minds tell someone else that they were jabbing them with a pencil while they slept? Only Larxene would be sadistic enough to get away with it, but she and I had stopped talking years ago. "I was… fixing my covers, when you started mumbling in your sleep… seemed to be some sort of nightmare, so I was trying to wake you from it." The burning on my face intensified as I spoke, but I forced it to recede, leaving my nose and ears strangely cold. I was good at lying… usually. For some reason Demyx was hard to lie to, so I told him a stretched version of the truth. Maybe it was just because he seemed so damned… innocent.

"Oh." He frowned, pondering this. He turned slightly away from me and I knew strangely panicked. True, I always hated when people turned, but something inside me wasn't only worried about missed words… but it simply _missed seeing his face_. This really had to stop. What had to stop, I didn't know, but it needed to stop none the less.

But, of course, it didn't. Nothing ever does when you want it to. Demyx turned back to me with a smile, and I wondered if he had asked me something. It didn't seem like it when he wandered over to his own desk, prodding at the mess that littered his side of the room.

It was when he began to unzip his guitar case that I noticed something odd.

My ears felt cold.

_Shit! _ I mentally cursed looking all around. Of course, I'm so used to taking off my headphones when I get home that I had discarded them when I began my homework. The ones I had been wearing earlier (I have a few pairs, since it'd be silly to always wear only one set of headphones… they would get horribly filthy and dented from such use) were resting on top of my dresser across the dorm. If I could just get to them-

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to stare at Demyx.

"-mind if I play? Just for a bit. You can listen if you'd like." He shrugged his shoulders and went about tuning the guitar.

I really didn't have a choice. I smiled, but couldn't keep my nervous energy out of it, and ended up just looking as fake as the smile was. I hadn't been able to stand being around people when they played instruments… not since I had lost my ability to understand what they were doing.

As Demyx plucked at the strings, I felt the strange emptiness that surrounded me in silence leak through as if it was taking over my whole body now, instead of just my ears. I tried to distract myself with feeling the vibration in the floor from others wandering the dorm building. I still felt numb as he smiled down at the guitar, strumming out a melody that was lost on my mute world.

I felt the silence rising in my body, like a disease, and panicked.

I have to wonder what Demyx's face looked like when I bolted from the room.

* * *

Theology class promised to be highly interesting. 

Today it would be probably even more so, because of my need to get my mind off anything that had to do with Demyx. I hadn't been back to the dorm all day. And as the evening grew closer, I wondered how I was going to explain myself. But hell, I didn't even know why I had bolted like a little rabbit in the face of a wolf.

I could deal with music. Hell, I had to especially if I wanted to keep my disability under wraps. I adjusted my headphones, pondering at the vibration that was massaging my ears, which I knew to be music… if only I could hear it.

I wandered into the classroom and plopped down in a mid-row seat, not too far back, but not too close either. The middle of the classroom was always ignored. It was the front or the back that was called on fifty percent of the time. I thankfully had managed to find a cheap pair of headphones at the college shop, a notebook, and a pencil, so I didn't miss any notes or be disturbed from my grand scheme.

A blonde-haired monk swaggered into the room, his ears pierced like a pin cushion. I turned my head slightly to see the clock. He was five minutes late… I vaguely wondered if this was going to a common thing. He stumbled as he reached the white board, nearly smacking his head against it. I'm fairly sure that I saw curses spew from his lips, although I wasn't sure if he had made them auditable… still, since when was a monk supposed to swear like a sailor? He scribbled his name across the board, "Father Luxord LeBeau," then turned to his desk.

"Ah." He stared at us, like he hadn't noticed the class until now. "You're all here, aren't you?" He snatched up a sheet of all our names, glaring at it suspiciously as if he could tell who wasn't here by staring at their name long enough. "Raise your hand if you aren't here." He peered around the room. I could feel a vibration run through the floor. Some of the kids were shifting in their desks probably in response to such an odd command. "Ah.. okay, then. Everyone's here." He checked off something on a sheet and turned back to the white board.

_He can't be serious._ I smirked, amused at this turn of events. This was going to be an interesting class for sure.

The blonde girl next to me- _wait.. LARXENE?_- had raised her hand, earning a look from Father LeBeau, "Uh, yea. Are you a complete moron? What kind of question WAS that?"

The odd monk, who smelled quite drunk to me, sauntered over to her desk, and sat upon it. "Do you want to learn religious stuff or not, my dear?" He sneered and patted her desk before glancing out over the class. "Do you chums want to learn your-" and I lost sight of his face.

_Crap. I'm going to miss important parts of the lecture if this continues. I have to remember my laptop tomorrow_. I winced, but straightened my features a moment later. I couldn't let this get to me. I would make some sort of plan after this class… it was my last one, after all.

Movement out of the corner of my eye brought me back from my thoughts. People around me were laughing. I smirked, pretending to be amused at whatever I had missed. Father LeBeau was back at the white board, addressing the class, and I watched him carefully and jotted down notes for the crazy, half-drunken lecture he gave for the rest of the class.

* * *

At least the dorms here were nice. They even had lounges with decent chairs in them, which is where I was huddled for a good hour after Luxord's class. He had refused to be addressed as "Father" or "Mr. LeBeau" and I'm pretty sure I saw him muttering about lost bets, comic books, and mail-to-order monk kits. 

At least I had gotten to talk to Larxene after class. She seemed to have gotten even MORE violent (I hadn't thought that was possible, but I was proved wrong later on) and was dating some fruity man with pink hair. I found that last part out by the boyfriend coming to find her so they could walk to their next class together.

I didn't want to say it at the time, but their relationship was obviously doomed. I knew Larxene. We had been good friends for a long time, although she had changed schools when I was nine and we had only kept in vague contact since then. I had never told her about the accident. Although I think she might have figured out something was wrong after awhile, she liked to comment about things in her letters that hinted at her conclusions… but anyway, I knew Larxene very well and although she knew me very well, I would like to think I knew things she herself didn't even know.

Like that she wasn't a girl who dated guys.

And from the way her pink-haired boyfriend, Marluxia, had stared at the boy passing by, her boyfriend wasn't the type that dated girls either.

_How interesting things have become for her._ I placed my hand along my chin as I let my mind roam from the heavily cushioned chair I was huddled in. _I wonder how it will end._ I smirked. _Probably not well._ I sort of hoped it would end well, for Marluxia's sake, but Larxene wasn't the type to be happy with thing ending on pleasant terms.

Apparently I was the only boy so far to have dated her and still remained friends. Most other had been afraid for their lives and fled the country.

I smiled at the memory of her latest ex-boyfriend that she had told me about. He had run away screaming from her and had nearly ended up as a John Doe in some morgue. I had figured, through her letters that she was going to figure out her problem with dating boys soon, but apparently not.

_Although… he is rather pretty… maybe she's slowly figuring it out._

I shook my head with a vague smile. Between my psychotic, sadistic ex-girlfriend and my word-loving, nerdy, football jock, best friend… I had some interesting people I hung out with.

A hand waving in my face caught my attention, I looked up, and froze. "There you are!" Demyx had a scowl on his face, but it wasn't a very good one and he looked more amused then angry. However, under the playful scowl, I could see a tint of worry that nearly made me flinch away and bolt again.

Confused at my own reactions, I gapped for a moment before I found my words, "Of course I'm here. Where else should I be but where I am?" I attempted a serious frown but ended up chewing on my bottom lip again, my face nearing a pout. _Pout? I don't pout…_

"Well I figured you would need your books and stuff for your classes, but you never came back to get anything!" The mullet boy knit his brows together in a concerned look, an underlying question read across his face: _Why did you leave?_

I snorted, pretending nothing was wrong, and held up my notebook with the pen clipped on the side. "All I needed was this for my classes today. It's only the first day, everyone just goes over syllabi."

He frowned for a second, probably annoyed at the still unanswered question, or maybe he could sense the lie… In a moment of amusement, I wondered if Demyx had been a griffin in his past life. They were said to be able to sense lies and lying was difficult around them anyway. Breaking me out of my ponderings, he smiled, "You talk funny."

I froze.

The vague smile that had found its way on to my face before now slipped off to crash on the floor. Recovering what was left of my wits, I realized he probably didn't mean it the way I understood it. Many people had told me that I sounded very articulate with my words, or that I would pause at odd times. I twisted my face into a scowl and tossed myself out of my seat into a walk.

His hand clasped my shoulder and I whipped around, nearly hitting him. "Don't touch me!" I growled, narrowing my eyes, but nearly wanting to take it all back when I saw his face.

What was this, that made me feel bad about his shocked expression when I had slapped people for less?

I frowned, shifting my stance to a less threatening one. "I apologize. I just simply don't like to be touched." I muttered, still not knowing why I felt the need to be sorry about such a thing. It wasn't my fault, after all.

My eyes snapped back up when his lips began to move. "Oh… I didn't know. Sorry…" He looked rather upset now, his blue eyes wide and worried. "I didn't mean to- I mean… I… Look, whatever I did wrong earlier… I'm sorry for that too. I'm just an idiot. I won't play my guitar again if it bothers you." He walked past, making sure not to touch me at all. I only barely caught his last words before he turned too far for me to see, "I won't lay even a single finger on you either." I think he didn't mean for me to hear the last part because he seemed to say it softly. He then ambled away like a kicked puppy.

I stayed there for a moment, taking in all that had happened. My nerves felt like they were on fire and I could feel a burn across my nose and ears- _Since when do I blush? _–and the oddest feeling was on the tip of my tongue. I swallowed hesitantly and shook my head to clear it. My headphones nearly went flying but I grabbed them at the last minute before they were damaged.

And I still had no idea what this was that I felt running through me.

When I finally returned to the dorm, the lights were off and Demyx was fast asleep on the top bunk. I sighed and sat down at my desk. Regardless of the troubles or the strangeness through out the day, I still had homework to do.

Demyx had flung his hand over the side of the bed- right in my way -**again**.

_This is going to be a looong night._ I sighed and pressed the tip of my pencil to my blank sheet of paper.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I'm sorry.. I rather suck at romance... I'll get better! I promise! No worries, Demyx won't be upset for long :3 

Please review! I love both critiques and comments! X3


	3. Figure Out the Point

**Strum a Melody for Me**

* * *

**Summary**: _Zexion Ishida has a lot of problems. First of all, he's got a paper due tomorrow… he lost his hearing at the age of ten, changed highschools when he was sixteen, and became roommates with Demyx when he was eighteen and in college. Wait… why is that last one a problem?_ An AU Zemyx Fanfic from Zexion's point of view. 

**Disclaimer**: As a great author once said: "Roses are red. violets are blue. Me no own, so you no sue!" - cheysuli-1218

**Dedication**: To RappAddict because you're a bloody awesome friend. If any readers out there enjoy Rent, they should pop on over to read her stuff. Also to Jackie (not on FF) because she rocks at helping me edit this story back into a way so I can stand to read it. AND TO ALL MY non-existent READERS on FF and dA, 'cause you guys bloody rock... and I mean it too.

* * *

**  
**

**Chapter 3** "Figure Out the Point"

"_I can figure out the point of anything, but just not as fast as I can mess up my life_"  
– Point of Extinction by Motion City Soundtrack

"Are you going to answer that?" Demyx's annoyed face filled my vision.

I pried the sheet of paper from my cheek and tried to rackle my still half-asleep brain into a working order. Finally, I came up with a response, "Ehhhh?" …Which was probably not the smartest thing I could say at that moment.

"Ooookay… I'll get it then." Blue eyes rolled and disappeared from my view. Turning my head to keep the blonde mullet in sight, I ran a hand through my hair and realized it needed a comb… badly. Combing the stale-colored mess with my fingers, I watched the Demyx open the door to our dorm.

A crazy-haired redhead leaned against our doorframe. "Heya, Demmy!" Was this a friend of my roommate's? _Explains the hair I guess._ The boy at the door looked like his head was set aflame above a pair of eyes that were green like forest fires. Next to the redhead, Demyx's dirty blonde lovechild of a mullet and Mohawk and super bright blue eyes seemed almost normal. The fire-head looked over Demyx's shoulder straight at me. "This your new roomie, little blue?"

Demyx turned around to see me sitting at my desk, my headphones barely hanging on my ears, and my hair a complete and utter mess. "Yea, that's Zexion. Zexion, this is Axel." Demyx gestured at the flame-head as if I couldn't have figured out who he was talking about.

"Pleasure to meet you, Axel," I replied automatically as I continued to comb my fingers through my head absent mindedly.

Axel glanced from me to Demyx and raised a brow, giving Demyx a look. Demyx turned around and looked at me curiously. After a moment, Axel bid Demyx a goodbye and said he had to run to class. Demyx waved after the fire-head and turned back to me.

"What?" I blinked at the blonde, as he wandered towards me. I recoiled as he reached for my face, he hesitated and let his hand drop back to his side. I stared at him with wide eyes as I felt my panic recede and my face burn.

A look of hurt ran across his expression before he swapped it with pity. I knew from his face what was coming but that didn't keep me from hating it.

"What in the world happened to your face?" His lips drew thin in worry and I knew mine twisted into a scowl in response.

I had forgotten to fix my hair to hide the scarred side of my face. Now I was sure that Axel had seen it and had made Demyx curious, for that I hated the flame-head. Perhaps I was quick to judge and rather harsh, but that's just how I am.

"I was in a car accident." I stated simply, knowing this wouldn't sate his curiosity, but not caring at the moment. I hated people who gawked. "Staring at it with pity written all over your face won't rectify it, you know. _Both_ my eyes see perfectly _fine_ by the way." I answered the usual next question before it was asked.

Demyx knit his brows together in response, still staring but at least blinking now. His hand flexed in sympathy for my torn appearance, but remained at his side.

I sighed and didn't bother to finish straightening my hair down and instead tucked it behind my ears so he could see the full damage. He sucked in a sharp breath at that. In the same car accident that had robbed me of my hearing, had also marred half of my face in a crisscross pattern that ran over my right eye, which was permanently discolored. While originally both my eyes had been a grey-blue, now my normally hidden eye was pale grey and milky as if it was blind.

Usually I wear my stale-colored hair combed over the damaged side of my face, in the ever-so-popular emo-style haircut. That day I must have fallen asleep on top of my desk and gotten my hair messed up. I knew it was going to happen eventually, although one can hope, right?

I avoided the oceans of his questioning- no, _beseeching_- eyes and instead straightened my desk. Sleeping on top of it had scattered my papers everywhere and a few highlighters were missing. I turned to ask my roommate if he had seen the missing items…

Instead, I felt cool fingertips along my face. Everything in my mind, which happened to be a lot at that moment, just dropped and crashed against the floor.

I would have jerked backwards, but my body had frozen in place.

His fingers barely touched my skin, skimming the mere surface and tracing my scars with a sense of wonder and sadness. It was strangely… soothing. The cool tips of his rough fingers dancing along my face as if memorizing, they were touching my skin only enough to barely feel it, but not enough to set off my panic. His fingertips hard and callused, but gentle in their movements, as if he were to strum a cord of a soft melody.

My stormy grey-blue eyes had been trapped by his impossibly blue irises.

His face was twisted in concern but also awe, as his sight followed with his fingertips, along the crisscross of my ruined skin. The clear, water-like eyes of his glazed over as he concentrated on his sense of touch more then sight.

I was trapped, as if in a spell. It was frightening and electrifying all at once. Then it was gone.

It seemed like forever, but it was barely a moment later that his touch was gone and his entrancing, sapphire eyes had turned from my view. He seemed to be apologizing as he stared at his feet.

"Sorry… I know you don't like… sorry. My curiosity gets the better of me sometimes. They say curiosity killed the cat, after all. No hard feelings?" He lifted his head and tilted it slightly in a way that made my mind go blank for a moment.

"Um, sure." I blinked, trying to understand what was happening to me. _I must be going insane_. I finally decided. _He's finally driven me off the wall_.

He grinned and bounced around, grabbing random items from all over his messy side of the room. I managed to catch his words as he left the room, "I've got class now, but I'll see you later, okay? OH SHOOT! Bye!" He darted from the room, his arm vaguely waving as he realized how late he was going to be.

Even once he was gone, all I could think of was his vivid cerulean eyes.

"Curiosity killed the cat." I repeated out load, as I adjusted by headphones and untucked my hair. A smile quirked on my lips as I remembered the rest of the saying, "But satisfaction brought it back…"

This strange feeling, it was connected to Demyx, I knew this. It was entirely his fault for whatever effect he had on me. However, like with any spell-born curiosity, it was about to lead me into a heap's worth of trouble.

* * *

"Demyx?" 

"Yea, Zexy?"

I blanked for a moment, not realizing he was talking about me. After a few seconds I put sound to his words and attempted to scowl, but like always, it didn't work out so well. "Don't call me that." I muttered before continuing my notions aloud, "You haven't gotten all your books yet, have you?"

Demyx leaned back in his chair, balancing his pencil on the tip of his nose, "Nah, I keep meaning to though."

I frowned at his antics. One day he was going to hurt himself. I shook my head, _Continue or you won't ever get another chance_. "Want to come with me to get the rest of my books for class?"

The pencil clattered to the floor and he leaned down in a swift motion and scooped it up. Rolling the pencil between his fingers, he glanced up at me and smiled, "Sure!"

I had to turn away then, or he probably would have noticed the soft smile spread across my face.

* * *

"Demyx, we're not going to find our _textbooks_ at a mall." I stated with a flat look as I peered at the largely structured building in front of us. 

"Oh c'mon! You'll enjoy this, come see!" Demyx grabbed my sleeve and began to lead me towards something. Alarm shot through me and my body froze at the simple touch, but that didn't stop me from being dragged along. Demyx was a lot stronger then he looked.

I was half-led, half-dragged, to a small candy shop. In reflex, I rubbed my wrist when he released it and kept my arms close to my person. When I turned and opened my mouth to yell at him, suddenly something large, sugary, and sweet was blocking my already muttled words.

Demyx's huge grin filled my vision and I popped out the huge lollipop to stare at it. I looked back at him and frowned, "What the-"

"You kids better pay for that!" The old man at the cashier cut me off. I glared at him for a few moments before Demyx slapped down a few dollars, which was probably more then the piece of candy was worth. After that the man only smiled at us and waved as Demyx ushered me out.

"Dem… What the hell!?" I yanked my arm from his hand and held it close to my body, as if protecting it. Demyx only stared at me.

"Dem..?" He tilted his head and my brain collapsed for a moment before I did a system reboot and tried to cool my burning face. His spell had caught me off guard again.

"What? Your flamey friend can call you 'Demmy' and I can't call you Dem? You've been calling me that infernal nickname all the time we've been here." I crossed my arms and stared at him. "But, seriously.. What the hell?"

Demyx pursed his lips in a pout and my brain had to perform another system reboot to remain functioning. What was going on with me lately? "You always look so annoyed with everything… I figured some candy would cheer you up." He glanced at his shoes (blue sneakers with laces untied and messy like always) and frowned.

I twisted the wires of my headphones and watched him shuffle his shoes and frown at them. Finally I sighed and let my hands fall to my sides, lollipop still clasped in one. "Thanks." I rubbed the back of my head with my candy-free hand.

With the speed of an African swallow, Demyx was all grins again and already half-dragging me to another place. _Talk about bipolar…_

This was going to take some getting used to.

"Demyx Nocturne! Unhand me!"

"But you're so SLOW, Zexy!"

A lot of getting used to…

* * *

**AN**: This chapter was a ton of fun to do and I absolutely adore that second scene with Dem tracing Zexy's scars... however, it took me quite a while to whip it into a shape that I enjoyed... I think Jackie got tired of me constantly running to her and saying "I don't know why but I just can't STAND to even LOOK AT this chapter! PLZ HELP!"

I hope you all enjoy the adorable of Zemyxness of this chapter, because the next one is bloody hilarious... XD

Please read and review! I love comments and critiques!


	4. Gay Boyfriend

**Strum a Melody for Me**

* * *

**Summary**: _Zexion Ishida has a lot of problems. First of all, he's got a paper due tomorrow… he lost his hearing at the age of ten, changed highschools when he was sixteen, and became roommates with Demyx when he was eighteen and in college. Wait… why is that last one a problem?_ An AU Zemyx Fanfic from Zexion's point of view.

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Kingdom Hearts, I would have never gotten a chance to write this because I would have been murdered by rapid fangirls.

**Dedication**: To my dearest daughty, Plu-chan

* * *

**Ch****apter 4** "Gay Boyfriend"

"_I'm tired of boys who make me cry, they cheat on me and they tell me lies. I want a love who'll never stray, when he sees other girls he looks away. And if he never kisses me, well that's alright, because we can just cuddle all night. Gay boyfriend! Gay boyfriend! I don't really care that you are queer._"

– "Gay Boyfriend" by The Hazzards

I had hoped to get some **real** sleep tonight.

"ZEXY, PLEASE?!"

Apparently that was quickly fading dream.

I stared at the blonde from underneath my pillow, my blanket creating a barrier between myself and the mullet-Mohawk lovechild. Demyx apparently had figured out that screaming in my ears wouldn't ever wake me up, and so I had been shaken awake into a full-fledge panic. I had managed to get control of myself before I spazzed too much, but Demyx was still staring at me with slight fear- something that made my chest twist painfully. I didn't mean to make him **afraid **of me.

"Zex-iiiiii-on, pleeeeeeease?" The musician jutted out his bottom lip into a pout. Apparently fear didn't stop him from imploring me.

I had opened my mouth, but had forgotten what I was going to say, "er… What?"

The pout grew and his mouth had my full attention as his lips moved to form words, "You've gotta leave, 'cause Axel's going to be here and he's all upset! He hates when others see him upset! If you're here, he'll leave and I'll never get a chance to make him feel better!"

I licked my lips and tore my vision from his face. "What am I? Extra baggage?" I muttered before I could stop myself. My eyes grew wide, I hadn't slipped like that for a **long** time. I **never** said things before I had thought them out… _What is going on with me?_

My eyes snapped to Demyx's lips as he spoke, "WHAT?! No! No, I didn't mean it like that! I'm sorry! Axel just- I can just explain to him- I'm sorry! I-"

I waved my hand to get him to stop rambling, "No, it's fine. I shouldn't say things like that. I know you're just trying to help him." I stated flatly, still mentally beating myself up for making such a Freudian slip. "I'll leave… just let me get dressed."

The blonde's face lit up in delight. I would have smiled back, if he hadn't taken that moment to jerk my covers off and demand I hurry because "Axel will be here any minute, and I told him you were out!" I sighed and shuffled over to my closet, hugging my arms to my small frame to keep what was left of my sleepy warmth with me.

I had started to change in my closet when I felt a vibration from the wall of my closet that was near the door. Someone was knocking. Demyx began to freak out and danced back and forth trying to figure out whether to answer the door or not. Finally he dashed over to the closet and slammed the door on me. "Please? I'm sorry." And with that he bolted to the door, just in time when the second, more frustrated, knocking began, and jerked it open.

I blinked, my shirt trapping my arms to my sides and still in my pajama pants that had little gray fish all over them. _I guess I'm stuck here… May as well figure out what Axel has Demyx all upset about_. I didn't particularly care that _Axel_ was upset, but that Axel was making Demyx upset. Either way, I couldn't really do anything until Demyx let me out… the closet didn't have a doorknob on this side, just slits which I could see through. So, I pulled my shirt on the rest of the way and kneeled down to peer out of the slits.

Axel was standing with Demyx's arms wrapped around him- that set off a protective spark within me. Who was Axel to even _touch_ **MY** Demyx?! I felt my cheeks flush and burn at that, _I mean... My.. roommate… Didn't I?_ I frowned and shifted my position so I could see their faces.

I couldn't see what Demyx was saying, but he was brushing back the firey hair and looked to be comforting the other boy. Once I could clearly see Axel, I felt vaguely bad at my reaction: He _did_ look pretty upset.

Although I couldn't see Demyx's face very well, I could see Axel's quite clearly, with his usually violently green eyes dulled and red around the edges like he'd been rubbing them far too much. His mouth was pulled down into a depressing scowl that seemed to be angered more at himself then anything outside. Axel nodded his head and looked down, "I- I just thought… You know I should just give up even _trying_ to think anymore… it just doesn't work… I thought that he might just… I screwed up. Bad. I shouldn't have tried to kiss him." Under his flame-like hair, his face just collapsed, as if the ever-raging fire on top of his head had burnt out the rest of him finally.

Demyx laid his head against Axel's chest as he hugged him closely. Although that made me clench my jaw in sudden strange emotion, I was grateful that I could see Demyx's face now. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Axe. I don't think Roxas would ever hate you for such a thing. He was probably just surprised, that's all." He was trying really hard to comfort the burnt out flame…

"Surprised people don't threaten to kill you for an act of passion." But the firey boy was making it hard.

Demyx's eyes suddenly locked with mine, he knew I was watching, and he smiled ever so slightly, but Axel didn't see. "Sure they do. Just because people freak out and run away, doesn't mean that they don't like you," His smile faltered here, his eyes trailing from mine as if unsure, but his lips didn't show any tremble in his voice, "It just means that they need time to get used to you." Demyx pulled a bit away from Axel and patted the redhead's pale cheek. "Give it time and stop pushing him. I'm sure Roxas loves you back."

Axel's eyes grew wide and he sputtered, "Lo-love?!"

Demyx's grin only grew in that secret way that I had learned meant he wasn't going to tell you anything. "Sure, why not? Now let's go get you some of that ice cream Roxas likes so you can go kiss and make up… Probably not in that order, but we can be optimistic!"

Demyx grabbed the stunned redhead's arm and led him from the room, not bothering to shut the down behind them.

"… Crap." I scowled. It was just like Demyx to forget that the closet didn't have a knob on the inside…

* * *

I had been sitting in my own closet for nearly an hour now. The good part was that it was a weekend, so I wouldn't miss classes… The bad part was that it was a weekend and I didn't have any clue when Demyx would be coming back.

A familiar blonde head popped into through the door, antenna bouncing in all their impossibly gelled fashion. _What is Larxene doing in MY room?_ I watched her as she wandered back and forth on my side of the room, shuffling through a few of my papers and opening the drawers of my desk.

"You know, if you're looking for that black mail photo of you from the Pancake Incident, you're completely cold."

Larxene's head bobbed up with wide eyes, her gelled antenna bouncing, giving her one of the silliest looks I've ever seen on the girl. _If only I had my camera_, I lamented. She was scanning the room, as if I would suddenly pop out of the piggy bank on the window sill or something. She stopped at the closet and stared.

"The closet is talking to me…" she muttered seemingly to herself.

"Did you swipe some of Xigbar's crack or something?" I peered at her through the door's silts, watching her startled expression fade, being replaced with a highly amused one.

* * *

"Thanks Larxene for getting me out." I muttered as I adjusted my headphones. They were the large bulky kind that I could wear around my neck and still look cool, if I wanted to anyway. We were on main campus now, far away from spell-casting roommates and one-sided closet doors.

The violent blonde snorted in laughter beside me once more, unable to keep it to herself once again.

"… It's not THAT funny." I grumbled.

"Sure it is! Your roommate locked you in a closet! In a CLOSET! Haha! And you know, you didn't even change out of your PJs. Nice fish, by the way." Larxene doubled over in laughter again and I scowled, grumbling to myself and tugging on my fishy pajama pants. I probably wouldn't live this down anytime soon.

Just to get back at her (I suppose her sadistic nature rubs off after awhile), I decided to bring up a dangerous topic, with a fakely large grin. "So! Speaking of closets, how are you and _Marly_ doing?"

She turned and glared with all the venom needed to turn the building behind me to dust (I'm told later that that same building was discovered to have major internal damage later that year, when it had been perfectly fine the year before). "_Marly_ and I are finished." She growled, but a flash of depression came over her eyes for a moment. "I found him bedding one of the TAs in our Chem Lab…"

"Vexen?" I stated, only as a question for her sake.

"…Yea, the fruity bastard had been cheating on me the whole time. I found out he was only using me so people wouldn't think he was gay- when it's SO obvious he is… So I helped him along with un-closeting himself…" A rather evil smirk spread across her face as she gestured upwards.

We were walking through main campus now and I had been wondering why a bunch of students were milling around whispering and giggling- or looking horrified… Now I knew why.

It was large, and it was very pink. Neon pink, if you can imagine, and on it was the words: "**Marly-poo is as gay as a fruitcup without the cup**," and had a recent photo of him up right under the words.

I snorted. From Larxene, this was light. Marluxia was getting away with all his limbs attached. I suppose she had actually enjoyed the relationship, regardless of its end. _Maybe she'll be friends with him too, then I won't be the only one to deal with her insanity_, I smirked to myself.

I glanced back at her. She was admiring her work and watching the people gather under the banner. "Isn't it just _lovely_?" She grinned not unlike the Cheshire cat.

I let myself give a laugh. It was hollow to me to laugh out loud like that though, as I couldn't even pretend to hear my own amusement in it. "Of course, Larxy." I said, making sure my voice was dripping with sarcasm just to annoy her.

* * *

Demyx had apologized intensely when I had told him how Larxene had to rescue me from the closet. He promised to make it up to me. I wasn't sure what he meant but if he felt he needed to then who was I to tell him no?

I was, however, subject to an hour long rant on how Axel was being silly and how Roxas needs to read some romantic novels or something because the two of them were completely hopeless. I wasn't really paying close attention but made sure to keep the crazy blonde in my sight incase he paused and I was expected to supply a muttering agreement of some kind. I think he said that the flamely redhead had managed to get back on good terms with his crush, but that the little Roxas boy had demanded that the boy-named-after-a-car-part be his slave for a week to make up for the kissing thing.

From the parse amount I had heard of this crushee of Axel's, I could tell that he would make a good debate partner. I found out later the next day that apparently the two of us actually shared many classes even, which I only found out because of the redhead's annoying presence.

"Axel, fetch my binder. I left it in the General Surgeon's hall with Mrs. Dualism." The small blonde stated bluntly. The referenced redhead opened his mouth to respond, towering over the other boy, but a piercing glare from the short blonde's powerfully blue eyes shut the taller boy right up.

The firehead wandered off from the path, muttering about a crazy fangirling professor who constantly made him stand up and sing for the whole class.

"Whapish." I articulated flatly with a snort, as I wandered up beside the blonde, not bothering to make the usual whipping gesture that went along with the sound. Roxas turned and eyed me with one of his large blue eyes, narrowing them slightly before smirking.

"Demmy told you then?"

"Of course. He's my roommate."

"Ah. You're the one then." He raised a blonde brow and his eyes swept over me, as if calculating if planning my death already.

I didn't flinch and returned the look. "Been friends with Dem long?" I tilted my head and appraised him down the length of my nose.

Roxas broke away first, with an amused snort, "Okay, okay. I get it. I won't touch the mullethead."

I narrowed my eyes, wondering exactly what the blonde meant by that, "You didn't answer my question."

Sticking his hands in his pockets and falling back into a relaxed pose that was similar to a snake in that he still seemed very able to strike at any moment. "We met through Axel. Demyx and Axel went to highschool together."

I nodded, recoiling my harsh manner the same as Roxas and adjusted my headphones before leaning on the back of a bench nearby into a relaxed pose instead. "You and Axel are close." I watched the shorter blonde for a reaction.

However, I didn't get a chance to see any response as fate took that moment to throw Axel back at us. The redhead plopped the binder on top of Roxas's head, which the blonde snatched away with a glare at the firey teen. Axel's response to the poisonous glare was to ruffle the already very messy blonde hair that covered Roxas's scalp and pinch one of his baby-fat cheeks.

I smirked and walked along beside the two as they bickered waiting until Roxas finally remembered I was there and jabbed Axel to say "hi" too.

Axel frowned at me nervously and did as the blonde wanted, to which I just laughed. "What class do you have next, Roxas?"

Roxas scowled, "English." He spit the word like a curse. I raised a brow and watched the scene unfolding as Axel dipped in front of me (I guess he didn't like anyone stealing shortie's attention) and his mane of hair blocked my sight for a moment until I took a quick sidestep.

Axel was grinning insanely and I had only caught the end of Roxas's statement "-summer homework."

As we walked into the building I saw the redhead's forest fire eyes suddenly narrow and his lips curl in secret amusement. I soon found out what he was planning. "Well," Axel placed a hand on his hip and supported his weight against the wall with the other, crossing one leg in the air in a rather silly pose, "if you don't want to go to English then you don't have to go."

Roxas turned and stared at the firey teen with an odd expression twisted across his face "What do you-"

Axel took that moment to pull the fire alarm, and immediately flashing lights when off all over the place. I noticed the flinch that ran through Roxas's face as the sirens must have started too. I played along and pressed my headphones more tight to my ears with both hands, letting my face fall into a frown as I followed Roxas and Axel out of the building.

Once outside, Roxas launched himself at Axel, gripping the taller boy by the neckline of his shirt and dragging him down to the blonde's shorter height. "WHAT THE HELL, AXEL!?"

Axel, on the other hand, still had a silly grin spread across his face even with certain death glaring at him. "Thought you didn't want to go to class, blondie."

"Yea, but you're going to get us both in so much trouble for this!" Roxas had his teeth clenched together, which made some of his words harder to read, but it was obvious what the message was.

The redhead just laughed, "You know you love it. You just hate that you didn't think of it yourself so you could have ordered me to do it."

Rage suddenly drained from Roxas's face, but he quickly twisted it back into a mock of anger as he shoved Axel away and turned towards me. I barely managed to glimpse a twitching smirk on the short blonde's lips before he stormed off.

Axel rubbed the back of his head and glanced at me. "Heh… He's a piece of work." The firey teen muttered nervously as if that explained everything. He obviously still didn't know what to make of me and my horribly scarred face.

I raised a brow at him and sneered, "Maybe you shouldn't have done that with so many witnesses. Someone might _tell_."

"What do you mean? There was only me, Roxy, and…" Axel paused slightly "…you. …Crap." He dropped his hand from his hair and stared at me with wide green eyes. "Zexion, you wouldn't." His fire-truck red brows knit together.

I shrugged innocently and gestured toward Roxas's retreating form, "Aren't you still his slave for the day?"

"Shit!" Axel took off at a bolt like a burning arrow shot out of good bow.

I just chuckled to myself and planned. _Yes._

_

* * *

_The mail office was located at a rather inconvenient spot. We had to travel through the whole campus, across a field, and down several flights of stairs to locate our tiny mail slots, which were barely big enough for letters, none the less a package… and packages had to be picked up at a special window that was only open in the small time period of 8 to 3pm. Receiving mail was a hard thing to manage.

Thankfully there was a bright blue mailbox at the corner of the street our dorm was on that made it insanely easy to drop off mail.

With my letter, stamped and sealed, ready to go, in my hand, I approached the shiny blue mailbox, which had "U.S. Mail Only" lettered in white along the front. Noting that there was a backpack set beside it, I vaguely wondered who might have left it there as I opened the slot to drop my letter inside.

Movement caught my eye and dragged my sight down to a mouth drawn into a pout.

"Hello?" A pair of huge blue eyes stared at me pleadingly from inside the mail slot. Opening it further I managed a glimpse of crazy brown hair and some sort of red jumpsuit. "Can you help me out of here? Please?"

I dropped my letter in and shut the mail slot, then proceeded to walk away.

A silver haired boy ran up to me frantic with worry. "Have you seen Sora anywhere?!"

I blinked, my headphones slipping a little with the force that the boy had grabbed and shook my shoulders. I could feel my breathing hitch and quickly said, "Sure. He's in there." I gestured with my thumb backwards at the blue mailbox, assuming someone this insane had to be looking for someone equally insane.

"Thanks." The silver haired boy let go of my shirt and bolted to the mailbox.

And so I carried on my merry way. _What a lovely day._

_

* * *

_A/N: This chapter is meant to be a slight break from all the intense fluff and just be hilarious. I had a load of fun writing this and I personally my favorite of them is the mailbox... because it's hilarious to me that Riku probably wouldn't even think to doubt Zexion that Sora would somehow get himself stuck in a mailbox ...and actually it isn't Sora's fault he's in a mailbox... Larxene jammed him in there.. for no real reason except for her own amusement... Although you didn't hear that from me... ;3

To my readers and reviewers: I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH! X3 I've gotten so many helpful, encouraging, insightful, and amusing reviews! I'm so honored to have you as my readers.

And remember! I love both comments and critiques :3 Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	5. Not Strapped In

**Strum a Melody for Me**

* * *

**Summary**: _Zexion Ishida has a lot of problems. First of all, he's got a paper due tomorrow… he lost his hearing at the age of ten, changed highschools when he was sixteen, and became roommates with Demyx when he was eighteen and in college. Wait… why is that last one a problem?_ An AU Zemyx Fanfic from Zexion's point of view. 

**Disclaimer**: Maybe I'd own part of Kingdom Hearts if I could just be adopted as Walt Disney's great granddaughter or something...

**Dedication**: To the wonderful the.israel.project107 for making her stories as good as crack.

* * *

**Ch****apter ****5** "Not Strapped In" 

"_The world's a rollercoaster and I am not strapped in. Maybe I should hold with care, while my hands are busy in the air. Saying, I wish you were here._"

–"I Wish You Were Here" by Incubus

Fall break.

I should be happy beyond belief according to most of the other college students I knew. Not many colleges had a fall break, and most didn't have it for a week like us.

However, I was not happy. Not in the least bit.

And it only miffed me more that I had no idea why.

"Zex, you've been staring out that window for a good ten minutes. What is wrong?" Lex crossed his arms as he stood between the window and I.

I raised a brow, "My zoning out means something is wrong?" I pondered aloud at his odd logic as if I was questioning his sanity.

Lexaeus mimicked my expression but didn't move otherwise.

I sighed, knowing my mask wasn't fooling him, "I don't know what's wrong with me, so just leave it be."

"Not the usual?" He titled his head slightly referring to my recurring depression at my deafness.

"No, not the usual." I answered with a scowl, although, I know I was being illogical toward Lex's usual logical approach to problems. As if to confirm this, Lexaeus knit his brows together at my expression, and I felt another wave of confusion threatening to consume me.

I felt familiar footsteps vibrate the floor boards. My mother had wandered in with a plate of apple slices, which she set carefully on the table nearby where I was resting a hand. She waited until I turned and looked at her with an upward twitch of my lips before she flashed a bright smile back and left.

"Thank you, Mrs. Gainsborough!" Lex called after her retreating form, using her maiden name which she had never given it up, gaining him another bright smile from the hallway as she rushed to get dinner ready.

I sighed as I reached for a slice of apple. My mother had become very quiet since I lost my hearing. It was like she didn't bother to make any sound just so I wouldn't feel left out. I thought it was unnecessary, but secretly enjoyed that for once everyone was at a disadvantage, the same as me. I knew Lex somehow had figured this out and never complained about her silent ways- not that it was like him to complain anyway.

Lex's large hands interrupted my thoughts as he quickly signed out a question: "It's something important. What's wrong?"

I paused, my hand hovering over the applies, then retreating to my side.

I could feel my mother's light footsteps nearby and knew he was trying to keep this a private conversation so not to worry her. Back when I had first lost my hearing, the doctors had told my parents it would be a good idea for me to learn sign language. I had been avoiding Lex during that time but one day he showed up to my American Sign Language class and sat down next to me. We learned it together and although I had also learned to read lips and could still speak aloud, we often used sign language to hold private conversation.

I frowned, and quickly signed back, "I told you already. I don't know."

His muscled frame set itself in a chair nearby and he gave me a look, and then signed: "Figure it out then, and tell me when you do." Then he looked away and munched on an apple slice as we watched some neighborhood kids play outside.

I snatched an apple slice from the plate and nibbles on it. Peanut butter. I smiled lightly; my mother always knew how to cheer me up.

* * *

I shuffled along the sidewalk, stopping only to watch the scraggly teenagers stare back at me as they ate lunch. I must have looked quite silly with my pale jeans, black converse, blue windbreaker and my neon green bulky headphones. However, I didn't care what I looked like. I didn't have to worry about the danger of Talk because this wasn't my highschool anymore. 

A girl's waving arm caught my attention as she grinned brightly, "Zexion!"

I waved back politely, regardless of the fact I had little idea who she was, and glanced at my watch. Lunch time was over. When I glanced back up, I saw everyone's head turn and feet begin the long strides toward the next classroom that would bring only boredom and misery upon its company.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of gelled up blonde hair. I whipped my head around and stared wide-eyed at the young man. Tidus raised a brow at my odd reaction. "What's with you, Zex?"

Xigbar's zebra-like head made its appearance a moment later as he slung his arm around Tidus's shoulders, giving the blonde a grin before turning and blinking at me, "Didja drop out already, Zexdude? I figured Xaldy would be first, 'cause he always was talking 'bout that pub he wanted to open…"

I just shook my head, carefully leveling my expression, so my confusing feelings of sadness wouldn't show. "Fall break." I replied curtly. Xigbar was in the crowd that Lex and I had eaten lunch with and he was actually supposed to have graduated with us, but hadn't bothered to finish his senior project. In consequence, he was left back a grade, which was fine with him, as zebra-head had been planning to drop out anyway.

I blinked at Tidus as the smaller blonde leaned his head back against Xigbar's green army jacket. _Apparently I've missed a lot over the course of a few weeks_.

I stayed and talked with Xigbar and Tidus, neither of which seemed to care that they were missing class, and caught up on some events going on, although most of it was nothing I cared about. "You mean Mrs. Heartilly gave up teaching?"

Tidus crossed his arms behind his head and leaned against Xigbar's taller but lean frame, "Yea, everyone said, though, that she was trying to find some guy she'd fallen for."

Xigbar took a long drag from his cigarette, "The dude is obviously gay for that Strife guy."

The blonde scowled up at the zebra-headed teen, "Who's this Strife dude? You didn't tell me about that."

"It's so obvious though." Xig's laughter quickly dissolved into a hacking cough from years of smoking.

I glanced between the two guys, "I know a kid named Strife in a few of my classes." I stated, remembering Roxas's last name from the few times I had glanced at the class list.

"Strife's got kids? HA! I knew it. Mrs. Heartilly had better hurry and grab her Squall before he tangos with a married man!" Tidus's eyes had an odd sparkle to them. _Ah, a romantic then_. I shifted my sight to Xig, whom had turned thoughtful, and slowly a grin came over his face.

We talked for a few minutes more before Xigbar "suddenly" remembered something and promptly dragged Tidus off, probably to show him the benefits of "tangoing" with an unmarried man.

In the end, I watched my highschool for a bit more, waiting under the bored glaze of the few lucky students to own a window seat. I eventually left, still refusing to wonder why I had been distressed when Tidus had turned out to not be the blonde I was expecting.

I was getting used to avoiding certain trains of thought.

* * *

"Zexion." 

"Yes, Lexaeus?"

"I've found someone. Someone special."

I knit my brows together. "Ah. Good." Not sure what he wanted from me.

Lex was watching me from the corner of his eye as we sat by the window again. He practically lived here when I was around, my mother always said. I had papers strewn across the table: various stories and essays I had been working on. Lex gently held a small novel between his large muscled hands, one thick thumb marking his place as his thoughtful eyes watched me.

I met his sight, although I couldn't read his expression any better for it. He seemed to find was he was looking for in my face and he shifted his sight back to his novel.

"You've found someone too." He stated, knowing I was still watching him.

I felt my face react in a heated flush, but my mind remained as confused as ever. He edged his eyes towards me and yet again, read something from my expression that I couldn't find in his.

"Don't let them pass you by." Lexaeus's gentle eyes stared hard into mine, "The worst thing is for them to never know."

I was just about sowing with my brows as Lex's stern gaze held mine.

We both looked away, each used to this form of silent communication that we have done since even before my accident.

Some things never change.

* * *

And some things do. 

They were driving me insane, which was a hard thing to manage.

Specifically, theses dreams, for they couldn't possibly be anything else, that would tantalize me with something that my knowledge of would never translate to awake thoughts, leaving an odd longing for something I didn't know.

Every morning I would wake in a sweat, not out of fear, but out of effort to keep myself in the dream… and every time, that split second before you're fully awake, I would mourn the something's loss to the daylight hours.

As the fall break went on, the dreams only became worse and worse. I could barely stand to go into my own bedroom, because _something_ was missing.

Mother said it was just my "restless spirit", but I knew that the "thing" was connected somehow to college and was probably something I had left behind there.

I could only hope they would go away when I returned to my dorm.

* * *

I really didn't need this after the possibly worst night of sleep I had ever gotten. 

Demyx was merrily carrying various boxes and bags as he wandered into the room, a bouncy girl at his elbow as they chattered at hyper speed.

I adjusted my headphones, wincing as they crushed the piercings in my ear against my skull. I had just gotten used to not having to wear my blasting music since my mother and Lex had preferred me not to flaunt my continuing "deception", as they claimed it, around them.

I ran my fingers through my hair in a nervous habit of mine. I moved my personal belongings back into my dorm awhile before, Lex helping again of course. Lexaeus had left me a novel, from his huge collection, telling me that it might help me with some of my "decisive problems" as he was calling them.

Now it lay open upon my desk, at first glance looking like a nonfiction manual with the chapter title: "How I Paid For College", but within the first page it had proved to be nothing of how it looked.

Of course, now I was ignoring any form of words lining the pages as I pretended to read, but shot glares at Demyx whenever he wasn't looking. _How dare he bring a _girl_ here_, I fumed. Granted, Larxene had already been in here, but _I_ hadn't invited her.

The girl was two heads shorter then Demyx, which made her just about the same height as me (which had proved to remind me yet again how short I was, proving to further annoy me) and had short black hair with a bright yellow cloth tied as a headband. I couldn't make out whether she was supposed to be dressed in costume or really had meant to look like a bright yellow and black ninja.

They both were chattering so fast (I hadn't noticed before but now I noticed the New Yorker accent pulling at both Demyx and the girl's lips, which explained the speed of the chatter) that it was actually hard to keep up with my lip reading, on which I had always prided my speed and accuracy.

Too many things, which separate would only annoy me, together had managed to combine with my utter lack of sleep and get my slow temper to begin its burn. And when I felt my eye twitch as I watched Demyx continue to ignore me for the chatter running between him and the girl, I knew that I was losing it.

I needed to calm down before someone was hurt.

I jerked myself from my chair, stuffing my i-kod into the pocket of my trenchcoat. I walked stiffly to the door, slamming it behind me, without bothering to look at Demyx or the girl.

* * *

"Larxene. I need to talk to you. NOW." I growled through my teeth as the female in question finally opened the door of her dorm. 

She just stood there and blinked at me, shock outlining her face for a moment. "Whoa. Something I did, Zex Mix?"

"No." I grunted with my eyes narrowed. "Is there something I need to know, Lark Bird?"

Her expression suddenly relaxed into a truly Cheshire grin. "Well," She gave me a wink, "I am standing here in only my bra."

I blanched, anger leaking out through my cheeks in a bright red burn. My eyes started to lower but I quickly whipped my whole body around to face away from her.

As my mind tried vainly to catch up with the current events, I jumped at a light tap on my shoulder, growling as I turned to fix Larxene with a glare.

"I asked whether it was important enough for me to bother dressing up again?" The blonde sneered as my eyes dropped and I realized she still hadn't covered herself up. I squawked and began to turn away again, but she caught me by my shoulder.

Panic rising as I squirmed in her tight grasp. She leaned down and her face grew closer to mine. Thud. Thud. Thud. I felt her pulse race in her fingertips as she gripped me tighter, the individual muscles loosening and tightening in response to her brain's chemical signals. I was so caught up in my fear and the pulses running throughout her body, detailing it out in my enhanced sense of touch, that I didn't realize for a moment that she had lifted up my mop of hair from my face with her free hand.

"So… This is what Lexaeus was talking around in his letters… Your accident was on the news, you know…" Her electric eyes drifted to me and must have seen my reaction to her touch written all across my face. "Oh." She snapped her hands to her chest, letting them then fall to her sides. I knew she had continued to speak, but I wasn't paying attention.

Striking the opposite wall with my back, I slowly slid to the floor, my chest heaving. I knew that must have been noisy, but I couldn't get myself to care. I was too concerned with breathing in and out.

A hand shoved into my hand made me gasp sharply before I turned a wide-eyed glare on the electric blonde who retracted her hand as her eyes met mine.

Her mouth twisted into a deep scowl. "You know. I thought we were friends, yanno."

I gaped at her, trying to formulate some sort of response, but my memory of sounds had left me in my panic. I could no more speak then a blind person could paint.

She crossed her arms over her half dressed state, "Why did you never tell me about your accident?"

My gaze dropped to the floor and shattered against the tiles. Small sounds forced themselves free from my near-forgotten lips, "I… di-didni't… me-an…"

Larxene's brows knit together, her gelled hair bobbing for a moment as she tilted her head to the side. Beginning to recover from my panic, I noticed the flash of understanding dart through her facial expression. I sighed, knowing already what was about to happen.

"Lex was right then?" Her eyes narrowed as they watched mine zip across her lips.

I plucked my hair free from behind my ear, letting it hide my mauled face. "Sorry for not telling you, Lar. I barely told Lex." I answered stiffly, "It wasn't something I wanted everyone to know."

"Hell, Zex, I had my theories… but I never thought you actually…" She trailed off, her normally sadistic self having a hard time figuring out how to react. In the end she settled for a frown at me, "So you're deaf."

"Since the accident." I answered her silent question.

"No hearing at all?" She made a vague gesture at her own ears.

"None."

"Why the headphones then?"

"It keeps everyone else from figuring it out," I frowned, picking invisible dusk off my pants, I rose silently from the floor.

Larxene offered a hand to help me, but I shook my head, "Please _don't_ touch me."

Her eyes light up momentarily, then darkened, "That was what Lex was talking about then… Your 'new phobia', he called it."

I ran my fingers through my hair nervously, "Lovely." I replied flatly.

The blonde blinked and turned her head around, looking into her dorm, her head at an angle that I could barely read her words but I could see her yelling something to someone.

When she turned back, she knit her brows at my confused expression, and then her face relaxed. "Oh, you couldn't hear him… right." She tilted her head to the side slightly.

I shot her a perplexed look, "Who?"

"Marluxia," I must have had an odd expression on my face because she suddenly looked highly amused. "Jealous? You _are_ my ex, after all."

I rolled my eyes, "I've been your friend for longer." I muttered, "Just surprised..." Tilting my head slightly and giving her a look, "You usually don't get back together with people you've dumped, especially those who cheat on you. Actually, you usually try to string them up by their gizzards, really." I rested my fingers on my chin, holding it up by its elbow resting in the palm of my other hand. "I knew you went too easy on him." I raised my brow at her, "You must actually like him."

She had the dignity to blush, but the lack of it to grin wickedly. "Of course I like him. Why else would I be standing here in all my shirtless glory?"

The sudden blood rush to my face was enough to nearly knock me out. I had clearly forgotten that she was only half-dressed, and the sadistic girl that she was, she purposefully leaned closer to me, not enough to set off my phobia, but enough to have her cleavage clearly in my way.

Reacting, obviously, to another call from inside her dorm, Larxene suddenly forgot me in favor of yelling back to Marly, "Do I have to show you again who the bitch is in this relationship, m'dear?" She sneered then called out again, "Plus, guess who is wearing pants right now and who isn't."

I think I made some sort of squeak or a squawk, that probably sounded more like a dying bird then anything I wanted drawn in relation to me. But, regardless, Larxene must have heard and turned around to face me again, her arms crossed and her face twisted in a smirk, "What's wrong, Zexyplexy?"

"T-M-I, Lar! TMI!" I squawked like that dying bird again.

The blonde just laughed, "My dear Zexion, you're so-" She whipped her head around, "SHUT UP MARLY, I don't care what you're doing with your tongue- Zex, look, I'll see you later, okay?" She tossed her hair back with a hand, then used the same one to flip Marluxia the bird, still smirking at me. "Take care, shortie."

I jerked my eyes from her chest and rolled them, "See you, plughead." I shoved my hands into my pockets and started down the hall, turning around only after I felt the slam of her door through the floor.

Studying her closed door from where I stood, my lips tugged into a frown. I shrugged then and wandered down the hallway. "Lark's always _so_ much help." I muttered darkly, but my lips tugged upwards slightly in a morbid smile, "…Well at least she got my mind off my own problems for a bit…"

"Ew." I let a shudder run through my frame, "Of course, Lar had to do it in the worst possible way…" I sighed, running my fingers through my hair as I wandered around the dorm, "There really are far too many closeted fruits at this school. It's amazing anyone here gets any work done at all."

I felt the floor shake with a steady rhythm, and took that as my signal to scurry off, not wanting to think of exactly _why_ the floor was shaking like that…

* * *

(Sexy Plexi by Jack Johnson)**  
**

**A/N:** Sorry for being so late. I'll get this up on dA soon as well. Hope you enjoyed!


	6. Fate Fell Short

**Strum a Melody for Me**

* * *

**Summary**: _Zexion Ishida has a lot of problems. First of all, he's got a paper due tomorrow… he lost his hearing at the age of ten, changed highschools when he was sixteen, and became roommates in college with Demyx when he was eighteen. Wait… why is that last one a problem?_ An AU Zemyx Fanfic from Zexion's point of view. 

**Disclaimer**: Moose.

**Dedication**: To whomever.

* * *

**Ch****apter**** 6** "Fate Fell Short" 

"_Look to the past, and remember and smile, and maybe tonight, I can breathe for awhile, I'm not in the scene. I think I'm falling asleep, but then all that it means is, I'll always be dreaming of you. Fate fell short this time, your smile fades in the summer, place your hand in mine, I'll leave when I wanna. This place was never the same again, after you came and went._"

-"Feeling This" by Blink 182

Father Luxord LeBeau was drunk… again.

…Not that he didn't come to every class stoned, drunk, or hung-over.

Usually he picked some random student to run the class (typically he picked the ones who looked like they were pissed with him, just to piss them off more) then he would collapse on top of his desk, and today it was my turn.

I cleared my throat as I stood in front of the gaggle of nutjobs that I had the unfortunate experience of being in the same class as. As the students trickled into the room, I glanced sideways at the sleeping form the professor, whom was passed out over his desk, papers and pens toppling off and on the floor all around him.

I sighed, running my fingers through my hair and flipping through the textbook I'd picked from our course log to talk about today. LeBeau did expect us to do well on our tests and exams, regardless of his lack of teaching… which is why he made a point of picking students to teach (why he didn't just get a Grad student, I'll never know).

I rapped my fingers on the table in front of me as I waited for the students to quiet. I and another girl, Quistis Trepe, I believe it was, were the only students who bothered to attempt to teach. And it was a fact that many of the other students didn't enjoy that. It was bad enough they had to show up at all… many students cursed the fact that LeBeau always woke at some point during the class and took role and would dock our grade if we failed to show.

In short, the guy was a bastard, especially for a monk, but enough of him.

I cleared my throat again, making sure to make myself louder this time. The class finally realized it was one of my days and a collective groan went through the class. One day they would thank me… probably the day before the final exam, while they were in the process of begging me to 'help' them by letting them cheat off me.

"Okay, you guys all need to shut the hell up. I'm going to go through some of the arguments between different view points that we've been discussing."

* * *

"You really are something, eh?" 

I spared Larxene a glance to 'hear' her out, as I collected my books into my backpack with a single swift motion. "What do you mean by that?" I frowned.

Larxene had a vague grin spread across her features, it was obvious she was in a good mood, and when she was in a good mood, she enjoyed inflicting suffering on others. "You beaned him right between the eyes." She snorted and made a half-hearted gesture with her arms, still grinning cattishly.

"He was being rude." I continued to frown. _Maybe I should pay more attention to how Larxene's more _eccentric _habits rubbed off on me_. A kid, Hayner Schlacht I think, had hit me with a paper airplane in the middle of class, and so I taught him the reason people didn't mess around during my times to run the class. Not bothering to turn around, I'd managed to nail him in the forehead with my marker.

Lar just chuckled, gathering her books and dumping them into her own bag, before slinging it over her shoulder and following me down the hall. "Hayner's always rude" She rolled her eyes. "I mean last week-" She paused mid-stride. "Hm."

I stopped a moment later to see the frown growing across her face before she continued our march into the chilling fall weather.

"I didn't think of it before but I guess that makes sense now," She muttered finally, a smirk running across her lips.

She peered over at me, expecting a response, I suppose, but I had slipped on my neutral mask to wait her out.

Running fingers through one of the antenna which she gelled to stick out of her hair, she watched me cautiously, her mouth still twisted in a smirk, "You do know that everyone in the class thinks it's hilarious that you wear your headphones when you 'teach', and they love to throw comments at your back all the time."

I let my face fall into a frown, but didn't let it show my growing horror, "What kind of comments…?"

The blonde sneered at me and leaned down, putting her face near mine, causing me to take a step backwards. "Find out for yourself, shortie Zexcake." She chuckled, when patted me on top of my head, gaining a scowl from me, "But you know, it'd only take once," She plucked at the wire of my headphones, "If you ever forgot these, even once, everyone'd figured it out, yanno." She grinned with a glint in her eyes, then within the next breathe, she turned and strolled away, leaving me on the path alone.

I knit my brows together, feeling the muscles of my face twist angrily under my pale skin. I strode down the beaten path towards the freshman dorms, gripping my backpack's straps tightly in attempt to control myself.

"Fuck." I finally growled aloud, letting my breathe escape in a huff. Breathing in and out was good, I needed to control myself. I hadn't had this much of a problem with my temper before… I didn't always feel the need to stomp off and hurt people, but I guess Lark's presence had definitely rubbed off on me. I couldn't have this happen so much.

I let my pace slow to a stop and closed my eyes, feeling the people walking down the same path pass me by. I didn't open my eyes until I knew they were long gone.

Tugging at my headphones, I yanked them down on my neck, letting their vibration of noise thud against my collarbone. It was nice to feel the breeze on my ears for once. I let my eyes slip closed again, not something I usually do much, as it left me near defenseless… but the breeze was strong today and I could reach out with my sense of touch and almost feel the things around me. The breeze tugged on my clothes and hair pulling it away from my face.

I need to calm down. I need to calm down, _now_.

I sighed, running a hair through my slate hair. Pausing in my nervous motion, I caught sight of a bench nearby and plopped my backpack on the wood. I adjusted my hoodie, then sat myself next to my bag, in the same motion, yanking a novel out of a front pocket of my bag.

I had finished the book Lex had given me and moved on to a new one Lex had told me about, called "Carmine Complex". I skimmed through the summary on the back and grimaced. _I really need to stop reading romance novels…_ I sighed to myself, _Or maybe at least tell Lex to stop suggesting them_. I flipped to the first page, settling myself down for an hour or so of reading, _I'll throw in a decent sci-fi tomorrow_.

* * *

Motion nearby shook the ground slightly under my feet and my eyes snapped up to meet familiar oceanic blue eyes. 

The blonde mullet boy blinked owlishly at me. Demyx tilted his head to the side, his hands hung loosely from their grip on his backpack's straps, his bubbly blue shirt bright against the autumn oranges and reds.

"Hey Zexy. What'cha doing?" Demyx's eyes crinkled at the edges with his innocent grin that chose that moment to appear.

I blinked back. My mind was devoid of the anger it had felt before (was it truly so short ago?), but that didn't mean I wasn't up for some mild teasing. That attitude was probably the reason I responded in the manor I did. "Echolocation." The word fell from my lips, dripping with sarcasm, but somehow also as innocent as his eyes that shone like ocean waters.

His forehead crinkled in thought and his smile turned thoughtful. "Isn't that what dolphins do?" He made some vague gesture with his hands from his forehead.

I felt a smile tug at my lips at his antics, "Most people think of bats first, but yes."

Demyx's grin was back from where it hid, its brilliance shone true even though the two of us were still a good few yards apart still. "I like dolphins better, 'cause they rock when you're out surfing and stuff" He made to close the distance between us but paused, "You done reading?"

I snapped my novel shut, dragging myself and my bag up from the bench, "Yes."

His answer was another bright smile.

Soon he stood beside me as we made our way back to the dorm, "You 'ver been surfing?"

I fiddled with the wire of my headphones, "No." I replied and watched a disbelieving look form on his soft face.

"Really? You should, it's awesome." His face turned wistful, and eyes mirroring the oceans he longed for. "It's like nothing else. Just you and the power of the waters."

"And your board."

"Huh?" He fixed me with a look, "Oh well of course. You can't surf without a board, silly." He turned back to that wistful expression, "Mine's got a name." The blonde threw a grin in my direction, "You wanna hear it?"

I twisted a lock of my oddly colored hair between my fingers and blinked back at him, "Of course, Dem." My answer seemed to echo of a more expressive meaning, that anything he would say, I would gladly 'listen' to.

If I wasn't used to watching, I wouldn't have noticed the color that hinted on the bridge of his nose before he ducked his head, his jaw moving but his lips out of my sight.

"I'm sorry, what?" I said, trying not to sound like I repeated these words all the time and was quite tired of saying such.

His expression underneath the lovechild of Mohawk and mullet was edged with slight confusion.

I pointed at my head. "Music. Sorry."

Now he looked even more confused but this time he repeated himself, "I said, I named her Dancer."

"Like the reindeer?" I plucked at my headphone wire again as we walked.

"Nah. That's silly. More like a gypsy ghost. She glides like a dream and is sorta white and pretty and stuff."

I grunted what I knew to be an agreeable noise as Demyx continued to ramble on about his _wonderful_ surfboard for the next ten minutes. My sight trailed off his lips and I glanced around at the small park this path drove through. The many trees were littered with bright hues of oranges, reds, and yellows.

My mind was still quieted by my earlier hour or so of reading time and the crispness of the world shocked my eyes for a moment. All the colors were bright and bold against memories of past autumns and suddenly I knew this is what people talked about when they said nothing beat the real thing. If I were an artist, like Larxene, I could paint for hours and days and never be able to capture this very moment on a canvas.

…Of course, Larxene didn't paint, but that was beside the point. It wasn't my metaphor's fault that Lark enjoyed stabbing clay blocks with sharp objects and claiming it as "art".

As I turned my head back to our path, the sun was setting and light hit the leaves just right. I blinked, unable to stop myself from muttering, "…Like rose petals,"

Demyx turned his head toward me, which caught my attention. "How is a tidal pool like roses?" His blonde brow rose in a confused look.

"Not water. The leaves. Look." I gestured out to the red leaves littered all across the path, hit with the sun in a way like rose petals had strung from the trees instead of leaves. For a moment, his face was written with an expression of slight hurt as he realized I hadn't been listening, and then he turned to the leaves.

Blue eyes glittered like the sun breaking across a newborn wave, "Wow. It does look like petals." He spared a glance at me, "Never took ya for a romantic, Zexy."

The corners of my lips tugged into a frown. "My friend, Lexaeus, is a romantic, not me."

He rolled his expression eyes, a smile still on his face as he turned to face forward again, "Whatever, Zexy." I saw his eyes glance down at my book then back at the path ahead.

The peace that had invaded my mind had finally corroded, "Will you stop calling me that?" I snapped, whipping my head around to glare at the once-rose-petals-now-leaves.

Demyx grinned, "Nope!" He slipped his arms behind his head as he strode along beside me.

I snorted in reply. We had been roommates for a month now and it wasn't like we didn't talk, it just… never was about anything important. I was used to Lex's and my deep conversations about life or Larxene and I ranting together about how ludicrous and dense most of the world was and how humans were slaves of nature. Sure, I had… less intelligent friends in highschool, but I didn't have to spend as much time with them as I had to with Demyx. Well it wasn't that I _had to_ spend time with him; it just always happened that we ended up having to be in the same area at the same time. It was part of being roommates, I guess.

I also wasn't much of a talker, while mullet boy enjoyed rambling on for hours at a time, even when he managed no response from me.

Sometimes, we managed a semblance of a conversation, like a moment ago, but it was always broken in some manner. Either I would grow impatient or Demyx would remember some inane tune and start whistling or something, regardless of what, any conversation usually ended with me snapping at Demyx to "Shut the bloody hell up!" or something of the sort.

I rubbed my chin with my gloved hand for a moment, what I really needed was another good sit and read. I read like people drank, to relax and unwind… without the side effects of a hangover.

As we finally entered our dorm building, I unwound my scarf from my neck and that was when I realized that I had my headphones down around my neck as well. I quickly stuffed them back on my ears, gaining an odd look from my blonde, mulleted roommate.

I could feel my face burning and I tugged at my hair, as if in attempt to cover even more of my face with the slate-colored hair. _Did he noticed? He must have! I zoned out for like ten minutes! Any hearing person wouldn't have interrupted with some shit about rose petals or whatever it was that I was babbling about!_ My mind raced with horror at my lapse, _If he knows then he'll tell everyone and-_

"Zexion?"

I barely caught his words from the corner of my eye and whipped my head around to face him. I must have had an odd expression strewn across my face because Demyx looked startled for a moment before continuing, "Zexy, I'm gonna get changed into my PJs, you wanna wait out here, again?"

I bobbed my head in a nod as I schooled my face into a flat emotion. "I'll wait."

Demyx shrugged and punched the code into our door, letting himself in as I leaned back against the concrete wall and waited. I knew he didn't care about privacy but I myself wasn't going to invade the privacy of others even when they didn't care. …This, of course, doesn't apply to gaining access to blackmail, but the act of changing outfits wasn't anything to use for blackmail (unless said person had a_ special_ someone who would enjoy getting their hands on above mentioned photos… but that's a totally different story). Basically, I had made it our habit to take turns changing as the other waits in the hall or does some other chore in the bathroom. The idea that it was our habit didn't stop Demyx from asking me every time if I was sure I wanted to wait in the hall.

I rested my head against the cold concrete and closed my visible eye. It always felt odd to see only through my scarred eye. Details were skewed by my hair, yet none but the highly attentive would know I could still see.

It wasn't long before my nose was back to being buried in my book. Regardless of being a romance novel, it was quite excellent.

And certainly it wasn't long after that, when a certain girl stopped by and paced nervously in the hallway in front of Demyx's and my dorm. I recognized her as the girl from this morning and my anger spiked again, but I reeled my temper in and didn't move from my position until I had myself under control again.

I placed the book on the floor next to me and I slowly pulled myself up from my seat on the barely carpeted floor. "Are you waiting for Dem?" I spoke softly so not to let our conversation be heard too much by our hallmates.

She turned, giving me an odd look. "He lets you call him that?" I frowned slightly but waited for her to continue as she shook her head, "Nevermind. Look, tell Demyx to call me- my name's Yuffie, by the way- when he has time. It's important."

I adjusted my headphones and gave her a look, "He's right in there, if you want to talk to him just knock."

Yuffie shoved her hands into the pockets of her shorts, which looked uncomfortably cold even with the yellow fishnet leggings underneath. "Just tell him." She scowled and trudged down the hallway towards the door.

I shrugged and went back to reading.

* * *

"Well she can just fucking wait." The blonde nearly growled at me. 

I raised a brow behind my mop of hair, frowning slightly, "Don't tell me that, tell her."

"Fine! I will!" He grabbed his cellphone and stomped out of the room, leaving me to blink at the slammed door.

I shrugged to myself and stuck my nose back in my book.

He didn't come back under nearly two in the morning.

* * *

Of course, I was _not_ staying up for him. 

Why should I? He had his own life and was probably out at a party with that wanna-be-ninja-girl. They were probably making out or something in a corner, drunk off their arses.

Right. Nothing to worry about.

He was probably fine.

…Yet, I couldn't help my eyes from ticking back to the red flashing numbers of my alarm clock (complete with a bed-shaker, since I couldn't actually hear the alarm) and finding that minutes were taking days to pass.

Then the door slammed open, hard enough to shake my bed and rid me of any pesky tiredness that might have been slowly coaxing me to actually sleeping.

Startled but largely still annoyed at him, I refused to move from my bed to see if the careless bastard was alright. The adrenaline from the door-slamming wasn't much help with this decision and I found my hands shaking in irritation.

This all seemed to be fairly worthless to my cause though, because a large and clumsy body soon toppled over my bed and sprawled himself on top of me.

I grunted and pushed at the annoying blonde, but he was fairly heavy and generally Not Helping with my growing panic. Most of his weight was on my legs and I managed to struggle up into a sitting position. "What the HELL, Demyx?" I hissed, my voice high with my fear, but he didn't even twitch in response. Jabbing a finger into his torso which had my legs trapped underneath, I tried to get any sort of response from him. "You had better not be drunk and going to throw up on me." I growled finally, barely comforting myself by the fact he wasn't actually touching any of my bare skin.

A soft shadow, born and twisted from the various electronics around the room that had decided to pollute us with blinking lights, passed over my bed and I snapped my head up to see the small ninja-girl glaring at me.

_Woofie? No, maybe Doffie?_ "You must have a good explanation for this,"_Buffy? No, Yuffie! Yes, Yuffie._ "Yuffie, friend of my currently bone-crushing roommate."

She shot me a glance that reminded me of Larxene's hell-icing-over-glares, but with a true fury behind it instead of Lark's general annoyance with most of humanity. I narrowed my eyes and barely kept myself from crossing the faint boundary from watching to glaring at her.

Finally her lips moved, faint in the dim light, but I could read the words anyway, "Zmet – or whatever the hell your name is – you take good care of him, or I'll rip you a new one."

Confusion dawning over my expression, yet the words left my word before I could stop them, the same as earlier, "Of course."

Yuffie narrowed her glare, as if it was a secret laser beam of some kind, and let it blast along my… compact stature, until the lasers found the blonde, with his face still shoved nearby my hip as the rest of him crushed my legs. The lasers dimmed and softened, and I caught sight of what was probably a rare endearing look saved for my mulleted roommate only.

I noted, strangely, that there was no heat of lust, or anything in this endearment that I had found to be obvious on the faces of lovers.

…_Okay so maybe they_ hadn't _been drunkenly making out somewhere. And _maybe_ she was just walking him home so he wouldn't spend the night in a ditch somewhere…_

That didn't explain why the mulleted blonde was passed out, or why he had been so furious earlier with a friend who obviously cared for his well-being.

"What happened?" I murmured, keeping my voice low so not to wake the now-snoring blonde.

Yuffie just shook her head, running a hair through her short dark hair and looking away, "You'll find out in the morning, I suppose." She whispered, glaring at the wall like it had cheated on her mother with its fellow adjoining wall. It was a wonder all the school buildings hadn't just crumbled from all the icy and burning glares being thrown around these days.

I opened my mouth to demand more then that, but she spun on her heel and headed out the door, only pausing for a moment to glance back with a rather evil grin, saved just for me, I suppose, and pull a rude salute, "Tootles, boys!" before nudging the door shut behind her with her heel.

I muttered to myself and pushed at Demyx, but he was like a bag of bricks and wouldn't budge.

It was obvious that I was stuck like this until the heavy blonde decided to wake up. I jabbed one last time at his stomach. But instead of moving off, he nuzzled his cold nose into the hip of my pajamas and I yelped, pushing mindlessly at him until it was clear he wasn't going to move any more either way.

"Erg!" I growled and plopped backwards onto my bed. I ran my hand through my stale hair and blinked. _I'm not in a mass panic. Interesting._ Probably caused by the stress of the night and lack of sleep, a crooked smile grew over my lips. _Normally, I would have hyperventilated by now, but I'm barely even freaked out._ I laid my arm over my eyes, trying to banish the quirky smile that wouldn't disappear. _Maybe mother was right that time could heal my phobia._

I yelped again, flailing my hand free of the sleepy blonde's sudden grip, feeling the panic add on another edge of adrenaline that I didn't need._ Or maybe not…_ I rubbed at my twitching hand, as I pushed myself back to a sitting position, trying to rid myself of any panic that was receding even now.

Turning my eyes downward to the oddly twisted, but comfortable-looking mullet-head I had for a roommate.

He had a scowl spread across his previously perfectly relaxed face and the rumbles I felt from his chest I supposed now to be whimpers. I raised my brows and twisted my frown along my face until finally I sighed. His hand was clenched around part of my blanket and which I carefully removed and replaced with my wrist, careful to keep the fabric of my pajama shirt between his hand and mine.

My fingertips buzzed as I finished, having no way to keep them from touching his skin, but instantly the whimpers slowed into a gentle snore and his facial features relaxed into a soft smile.

I couldn't keep myself from smiling back just as softly and letting the gentle rumbles from his chest soothe me to sleep.

* * *

**A/N**: Sorry for this taking so long. I hope it was worth the wait :3 -kit 


End file.
